Dotty and the Witch
by Crookykanks
Summary: A very young Dorothy explores her new home in Kansas, wondering about her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her new home. Just a quickie.


She wasn't quite sure where she was or what she was doing there, but Dotty was having the time of her life. Never before had she seen so much open grass. Never had she had so much room to run. Never had she felt so free.

This wasn't like home. At home, mother and father would be watching her every move, they'd be following her around making sure she didn't run too far. Here, Dotty could run as far as she liked. No fences or parents could hold her back. She could run to the ocean or the cities or the flower fields, maybe even to another country – she had no way of knowing yet. Maybe she could even run to another planet. She didn't know if it was possible, but she would certainly try. Once she was through exploring this one, of course.

She was beginning to like her aunt and uncle's house, too. She had a big room all to herself and farm hands to keep her company. In her parents' house, Dotty had only one small room and was often alone except for the other, much older children in the area. She had quickly decided that she didn't miss them. She was beginning to miss her mom's cooking, though. Her aunt wasn't near as good and never seemed to make cookies. Crullers on occasion, but no cookies.

Dotty slowed her steps so that she was simply walking across the grass rather than sprinting. Eventually, she stopped altogether and plopped rear first to the ground. She did miss her mother, and her father, too. She hadn't seen them in days and they hadn't said anything about coming here to meet her. For than matter, they hadn't said anything about her coming to her aunt and uncle's farm on her own, either. She had only met her aunt and uncle once before this point, and not for very long then. Why was she suddenly here with them? When would she be going home? Would she start school here? And what had that ceremony in the flower field been about? The one with the big tents and muttering adults, where her aunt had forced her into an itchy black dress and wouldn't tell her what those two big boxes were for…

Dotty sprang back up and started running again. This place wasn't so bad. Maybe when her parents got here they would let her wander further than before. There was no one else in all the fields, anyway. Her aunt and uncle's place seemed to be the only one for miles. Maybe she was in a different country already. Dotty had no way of knowing. At only five years old, she wasn't very versed in geography yet.

Suddenly, a fence appeared off to the right of her. There was a small garden and a two story house behind the fence, all in near perfect condition, like a magical house from a fairy tale. Maybe a woodland fairy lived here. It wasn't flower season yet, Dotty could tell that from the weather, so the garden was relatively barren. A few encouraging sprigs of green poking through the dirt required a closer look, though, so Dotty gathered her skirts and raced off to the fence. Finding it low to the ground, but still too high to jump, she dug into the dirt with chubby fingers and made a shallow hole beneath the crossbars. With some difficulty, she pushed herself through and stood triumphantly on the other side. She swatted at the dirt on her frock, but found it stuck fast. Dotty didn't care, though. She was having too much fun to worry about a frock.

She skipped to the green stalks of life creeping up from the garden earth and knelt to inspect them. Seeing as their buds weren't even showing yet, there was no reason to pick them, but she leaned in and smelled the fresh plant life anyway. She poked at the leaves, trying to see if she remembered their touch from another wildflower bouquet. No, they were soft and indistinguishable. She'd just have to come back in the blooming season. Maybe they were special fairy flowers. Dotty leapt up and spun around to the house beside her. Up close, the paint was streaked and spattered, but all the more mystical. The streaks didn't seem to be age, but patterns; the spatters were the remnants of magic, she was sure. Dotty felt a sudden urge to find the fairy who lived here.

She ran to the left, hardly looking where she was going. She kept her eyes on the side of the house, looking for a door, a window, anything. She saw two windows as she ran, but quickly discovered that both of them were too high for her to see through. She stopped and jumped up at each one, but could never catch a glimpse of the fairy, so she kept running. Her aunt and uncle always left the front door open; maybe that was customary around here. Maybe her aunt and uncle knew the fairy personally. Her heart leaping with her legs, she kept running until she ran headlong into something.

Dotty's heart stopped in her throat. She had run into something fleshy and it was wearing a dress. She hugged onto the legs tightly and grinned, as she looked up into the face of her captive.

Her grin faltered almost instantly.

No, not a fairy. Definitely not a fairy. Fairies were sweet and kind, clothed in flowers and bedecked with golden curls and a soft smile. They glowed in the sun and shone under the moon. No, this was not a fairy.

This was a witch. The long nose and sharp chin, the grey day dress, unembellished and unpatterned, the knitted brows, the piercing glare. The horrid frown. Dotty flinched and let go immediately, backing up to get a better look. She glanced quickly from the house to the witch, to the house, to the witch, to the house, to the little plants in the garden. There was only one thing for it. The fairy was under a spell and the witch had taken over her house. Dotty had to warn someone.

"Who do you belong to, child? I haven't seen you around here before."

Dotty's voice caught in her throat and she gasped as the witch spoke to her. Unable to find the right words and too terrified to try to save the fairy on her own, Dotty did the only thing she could think to do. She screamed and ran back to her hole, crawled under the fence, and raced back across the fields, the witch's confused gaze following her shrieking form all the way.


End file.
